Nov. 21, 1964, was a momentous day at the Second Vatican Council, which had begun its work in 1962. Three of its eventual 16 documents were issued that day by Blessed Paul VI in union with all the Catholic bishops of the world. Let us look, from a perspective of 50 years, at two of them: the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, and the Decree on Ecumenism.

The Constitution on the Church met a need which had, in some ways, existed from the beginning of the Christian community. How do we define the church? The Constitution opens with the words "Christ is the light of nations"; it is commonly referred to as Lumen Gentium, Latin for "light of nations."

Lumen Gentium affirms that the church is a mystery and is not easily described or defined; attention is given to "images" such as "the Body of Christ." It also proposes the image of "the People of God." While the document devotes itself to a discussion of the hierarchical nature of the church (that is, its teaching, governing and sanctifying authority, embodied in the college of bishops), it stresses what all members of the church have in common: the baptism by which we are incorporated into the mystery of Jesus' saving death and resurrection and therefore called to holiness, whatever our state of life may be. (The Koinonia adult weekend spiritual experience, begun in Springfield in 1976, includes features specifically devoted to "the People of God" and "the Universal Call to Holiness.")

Lumen Gentium also addresses two very difficult questions. First, is Jesus' church to be identified exclusively with the Roman Catholic Church as we know it? The Council came to the conclusion that what Jesus intended to found "subsists in" the Catholic Church. Although our Lord has never departed from Catholic Christianity, it must be acknowledged that elements of sanctification exist outside the church's boundaries. We recognize, for instance, the baptism of most non-Catholic Christians.

The second question is: can it be said that people outside the definition of the Catholic Church are somehow associated with it? The answer is yes. After acknowledging our common faith with Jews and Muslims in the one God, the Council, remembering St. Paul's preaching at Athens, states: "Nor is God far distant from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God, for it is He who gives to all men life and breath and all things, and as Savior wills that all be saved."

The Decree on Ecumenism is known by its Latin opening Unitatis Redintegratio, or "the restoration of unity." The decree laments the divisions which exist among Christians, and affirms, as Lumen Gentium does, that the intention of Jesus Christ is that there be one body of believers who bear his name. All of us can reflect that the past 50 years have allowed us to appreciate what we have in common with non-Catholic Christians, allowing us to anticipate that time "when the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion have been gradually overcome," when "all Christians will at last, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, be gathered into the one and only church in that unity which Christ bestowed on His Church from the beginning," for "we believe that this unity subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time."

The texts of the documents of Vatican II are widely available in the well-known Abbott and Flannery editions; they are also available at vatican.va, the Vatican website, under "Resource Library."